Honor on the Battlefield
by Triscribe
Summary: Takes place after JLU episode Task Force X - Shining Knight is berating himself for being so easily taken out of the fight, Vigilante's annoyed he lost his guns, and Hawk and Dove are both unhappy with the Annihilator being in enemy hands again.


_Thanks must be given to Shinju90 on DeviantArt and her picture Hang On Friend for giving me a jumpstart into working on this._

"Idiot." Sir Justin growled at himself. "Fool. Inexperienced knave, falling for something like that." He still couldn't believe he'd allowed the attackers to throw him into the storage room like that - trapped and unable to aid his allies in their battle... Unable to keep his friend from sustaining his grievous injuries. Vigilante was still having a hard time keeping his concentration through the concussion and shattered arm.

That didn't mean he couldn't hear, thought.

"'S not yer fault, pardner..." The man's speech was slow, but still carried its distinctive accent. "Jus' means we're gonna hafta move a little quicker next time..."

"Indeed, my friend." Still, the reassurance barely did anything to ease the guilt medieval knight felt. He reflexively tightened his grip on the cowboy, slowly helping him through the Watchtower's halls towards the medical bay. After the infiltrators had departed with the Annihilator, J'onn had called in several heroes to help secure the orbital base and restore what had been damaged. Several of the civilian workers had also jumped back to their jobs, working to get things back up and running. More than a few offered to help Shining Knight get Vigilante medical attention, but the most he accepted was sending someone on ahead to warn the doctors of their incoming patient. Those who were on duty were either tending to the wounded woman left behind by her thieving comrades, or else trying to rouse Atom Smasher so that he could shrink down to a more manageable size for the medics.

While Sir Justin was also chastising himself over their injuries, his foremost priority and responsibility was Vigilante. Greg Saunders, upon their initial meeting not long before the League's formation, had gone out of his way to make the time-displaced man feel welcome and accepted.

That was debt Shining Knight had privately sworn to repay however he could. Failing his teammate and friend in battle was the very opposite of doing so. Sir Justin knew, though, that the League would be making every effort to track down those responsible for this attack - he would be at the forefront of that effort.

He would find it very satisfying to take down the men who'd hurt his friend, and especially the dark-haired one who'd taken Vigilante's favored weapons...

-HB-

"Whaddya mean he ain't here?" Greg demanded as he wearily dropped onto one of the rec room's many couches.

"Exactly what I said." Hawk growled, a nudge from his younger brother reminding the red and white clad hero to keep his temper around their still-healing teammate.

"Huh. Ain't like ol' Justin t' miss movie night." Vigilante muttered to himself as he debated grabbing the remote and starting the film anyway. "Wonder where he done gone off to?"

"I'm pretty sure he's on one of the teams that went to track down those guys who stole the Annihilator." Dove told him, reflexively shuddering at the mention of the monster armor he'd once been tied to like a banner. The young man had never been so relieved to have Hank come and get him out of trouble. Hawk, catching his brother's brief reaction, displayed a rare bit of tenderness as he wrapped an arm around Don's shoulder. It had been hard, not volunteering to be on one of those same teams, but being well aware of his little brother's occasional nightmare from that mission had the hero staying put on the Watchtower. He really hoped Shining Knight and the others were able to recover that stupid Annihilator and lock it away for good.

Vigilante was about to grumble some more when the door to the room opened, and the very man he'd been wondering after came limping in. "Whoa! Justin, what happened t' you?!"

"We had one of them cornered, before a purple-haired witch used sorcery to pull him away." The knight sank down onto the sofa beside his friend, stretching out a bandaged leg. "I have been developing a growing distaste for this era's laser blasters and other such modern weaponry... But here." Leaning over slightly, Sir Justin pulled out Vigilante's stolen pistols and dropped them into the stunned man's lap. "Now, I believe you were quite excited about sharing the exploits of this John Wayne fellow and his various alter egos."

Greg was still blinking down at his returned family guns in shock, and didn't snap out of it until Hawk and Dove snickered. Shooting a quick glare at the brothers, he shook himself back to the present. "Right. First on the list is of the classics, a tale about a man named Chisholm..."


End file.
